Air baffle



Feb. 23 1926.

H. M. suTTcN E-r AL AIR BAFFLE Filed July 51, 1925 4 sheets-sheet 1 Feb. 23 1926.

Feb. 23 1926. l v1,574,637

H.v M. SUTTON l-:r AL

AIR BAFFLE Filed July 31, 192: 4 sheets-Sheet s Feb. 23,1926. 1,574,637

H. M. SUTTON 'ET AL AIR BAFFLE Filed July 51, 192:! 4 sheets-sheet@v Patented Feb. 2.13, 1926.

' HENRY MooEE sUTToN, WALTER LIVINGSTON sTEELE, AND

- E pnLLAs, TEXAS.

AIE. BAEELE.

Application led July 31,1923. Serial No. 6545869.V

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY M. SUTTON, VALTER L. STEELE, and EDWIN G'. STEELE, citizens of the United States," residing at Dallas, in the county of Dallas'and State of Texas, havev inventedv certain new and useful Improvements in Air Battles, of which the .following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying 10. drawing.

'This lnventlon relates to improvements.`

' beutilized forth'e l kindof material.

in air baies, and is for regulating and distributingthe air within the air-chamber of pneumatic separators, cleaners, concentrating tables and the like.

The present improvement is particularly intended vfor use 1n Qconnection vwith our patents granted and applications pending, and its application is shown, to so much of ,one form asis necessary for its understandmg. v Y The machine to which the improvement is applied, com rises an air-chamber having its top forme of al perforate separator deck over which the material passes to be separated. `Air-pressure is within the chamber and it passes through the said deck `and acts upon the material in a manner broadly well understood. We have heretofore placed in the chamber two air-controlling bailies, one placed a suitable distance below the said deck and another placedl over the air-inlet opening. XVe have encountered much difficulty in obtaining the proper distribution of this air to the separating deck, and the primary object of the present invention is to so conj struct the bafie plates as to enable the air to be distributed to the said' deck and pass through it in proper 'proportions and places to accomplish an accurate separationof the 'material on the deck.

The machine here shownis `preferably for the separation of coal, though it may dry separation of any A further object of' thel present invention is to :construct the vbaille to'form inclined openings, formed by punching the metal so as tocause itto extend from the -plate at an inclination. l 'A further object of the resent improve- 'ment'is to-form the said ba e from lmaterial fcapable of being bent to causethe openings to be more or less open, whereby the inclination*of the said llps can be varied with the tongues to cause more or less 'of tlie vair to pass through.'y Thisarrangement enables the air to be regulated according to the conditions which are met, and to cause the air to be fed through at angles tothe said deck. It also enables the lower baile tobe controlled likewise for feeding vthe air to the baie above. l

- A further objectof the l.resent invention is to enable the tongues o the upper battle below the sa-id deck to extend in the direction opposed to the thrust of the machine, whereby the airpassing through the baiile passes through the4 deck at an angle which is opposed to the direction of the thrust of'- the machine. This arrangement causes the lighter materials to beheld backwhile the heavier materials are being thrust forward, the said action causing the lighter andheavier elements of the mass to report to the.

EDWIN lofoonw'IN STEELE,

desired portion of the deck Where the sep-` aration occurs.

The said improvement not only enables the upper baille to have its tongues project in a direction opposite to the thrust of the machine, but it enables the tongues of the lower baffle to extendin the opposite direction. This causes a distribution of the air in the chamber below the said upper baffle.

Preferably when the machine is utilized for the separation of materials, such as coal and analogous materials, the yseparating deckl is formed of v erforated material, which enables the air rom the upper baffle to pass vthrough the said perforated plate at an angle inthe same direction, thereby acting upon the material on the deck and effect the separation of the material. l

The said improvement also enables the upper baffle plate to fill :the vwhole space below the deck, or to leave -ay partof it open for the free passage of the air without invterference from thefsaid ibaille plate. This. is advantageous for in the separation of coal and the like, -'t is sometimes found advanv tageous to leave a feed'end and one si e uninterrupted by the bale, whereby very advanta'geous'- in the handling of cer'- tain kinds of material.v f- K In Figurel we show aver artsof the 'deckt at its a free'passage of air at. those' points is permitted,-whichlis found to be ical sectional view of the air-chamber of one type of our machine to which the invention is applicable.

Fig. 2 is a to plan view showing one form of the ba e applied in the carrying out of our improvement.

Fig. 3 is a tov plan view of another foiin of ourbalile p atc, showing certain spaces at the feed end'and one side uninterrupted.

Fig. 4 is a` detached substantially fullsized view of a part of oui improved baffle plate. f

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical crosssectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction indicated by arrow.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal vertical section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction indicated by arrow.

Fig. 7 .is a. vertical sectional view of the upper portion of the air-chamber, Ishowing the said erforated separator deck.

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a part of the separator deck shown in Fig. 7

Fig. 9 ris a to pan view of the baille plate, substantial y full size, showing one form of adjustment of the said tongues for controlling the flowof air through the said plate. A

Referring now to the drawings, lis a table having at its top a perforated separating deck 2, and its bottom closed as' shown at 3. Connected with the saidbottoni an airduct 4, which receives its air from a fanhousing 5. It'will be observed that the airinlet supplies an air-pressure under the separating deck.2, and as' in this type of machine, the table is reciprocated, the reciproeating thrust of thev table ,being in the direction indicated by arrow in the drawings. It will thus be observed that the separating deck is under air-pressureA 'and is given a thrustaction whereby the mass to be separated is Heated, so to speak, on top of the deck while it is given a thrust in the direction indicated'. a --Thus far we have described our type of table, and an illustration or description of the` means for reciprocating the table is unnecessary to the understanding of our present invention.` v

Heretofore our tables have been provided with airlpr'essure under the separating deck and we' have endeavored in various ways to show some means for -controllingt-he flow of air to the deck,-which has, to some extent, co'ntrolledt-he air feed. Ve have recognized that the proper control of air-pressure is necessary for the most efficient and' best results.- For avery long period of time ,we have made efforts'to accomplish this, and have discovered the form of baille plates, and theirv arrangements in the chamber which is the subject-matter of this application.- Our improved baille plate we find to meet all ofthe necessities 9. the air-Qontrol,

lat theircenters 7.

and that it iscapable of adjustment to suit the varying conditions of the mass of material which the separating deck is acting upon. l v

lVe have herein shown one mechanical expression of our improved baffle plate which accomplishes the above results. The battle is made from a sheet of metal 6, and this sheet of, metal has struck from ita series of inclined tongues 7. In the mechanical expression of the devicewhich we have, up to the present time, found best lfor car# rying out our improvement, consists in stamping the said inclined tongues 7 from the plate,` in parallel rows 8, the saidrows extending in a direction across the thrust of the table'. rlhis arrangement may be varied, but at present we believe it to be the best to servevthe purpose. It will be observed that the inclined ton ues of the succeeding rows are placed out o? line with the inclined tongues of the preceding rows, whereby eachV row has its tongue out of line with its ad jacent row. By this means the vair passing through the baflle is in small fixed streams since the air passing in an' inclined direction from onerow flows across the space between the tongues of the preceding row, and in the form shown the tongues are preferably rectangular in plan View and the tongues in one row are in a position to have the air flowing from it overlapping the tongues ofthe preceding row. This is clear- 1 v sho'wn in the drawings and especially in Figs. 4 and 9.

We alsocall attention to the fact thatin the specific form ofbaflle here shown, the rows oftongues are separated by transversely extending webs 9, and the tongues of each row are separated by the longitudinal webs 10, which at their opposite ends are connected with the transverse webs 9. This construction provides a good supporting means for the tongues and affords suicilent rigidity to the baffle plates under air pressure.

Te also call attention to the fact that inv our preferred construction the tongues project upwardly at inclinations,because we believe the best result is accomplished by that construction. However, the tongues might be depressed instead of elevated and a certain degree of the air-control be provided.

The upper ballleff'plates 6 and the lower baille plate. 6 are located'between the airinlet 4 and the separating deck 2. These baffle plates are furnished for' the machine in the form shown'in Figs'. 4 and 6, which show the inclinedl tongues elevated slightly chine for stamping outthe baf'fle plates preferably form the tongues in the shapes shownV in Figs. 4 ,andy (l. lW hen the plates are applied to the tabled, the said tongues are adapted to -bel'adiusted to-Lnnd from the .'lhatis to say the ma. 1

` at any desired point in the baille plate for partially closing or for increasing the openings formed by the tongues to suit the conditions under which the table is to work.

By actual practice we have found it necessary to vary, for the separation of certain coal materials, the inclination of the tongues quite radically. That is to say, the said tongues 7 will be turned upward in diagonal positions 1l, as shown in Fig..9, between the dotted lines c a b b Fig. 2, and the inclination will be varied accordingr to the characteristics of. the mass of material which is passing over the deck to be separated. The 'lines a a I) b are merely indicated, but we desire it to be understood that this inclined bend of the tongues will vary land may be separating deck, at or near the feed end the mass of 'material is though usually it is of the table where located.

These adjustments y are easily made with the fingers bending the said tongues or lips,

as the baille plates are preferably formed of thin galvanized iron.

Ve have also found in the actual operation of these baille plates that iny some instances it is advantageous to use a baille plate of such size that it is not completely the size of the separating deck. That is to say, a space at the 'feed end c may be left without the baille plate, and a narrow space d extending along the side of the table may be left without the baille plate. In this con- Vstruction the air willfreely flow through the spaces c andd for action upon the material being separated. In the space c' where the mass `of material is dumped from the feed e, and the mass of material comparatively thick and heavy, an unimpeded flow of air to the separating deckxis found essential in the proper separation of certain kinds of material. Owing to the mass of material the passage of the air is impeded thereby and the Whole mass is iloated by the air with the lighter material passing to the top and the heavier falling down. This increased air serves to properly iloat the maheavy material is being l en terial to accomplish the beginning ofthe separation. In the space d, which is the banking bar space of our patents, where the banked the increased ilow of air isadvantageous, and for that reason the airmay pass through the4 space d without being impeded by the baille. When the machine is operating upon'coal,

the separating deck 2 is preferably formedv of material which is provided with closely arranged perforations 2', the `ordinary `fabricfwould not form a deck, which would properly stand the wear and tear ofthe mass 'of coal. Furthermore, with the relatively large perfor-ations 2', lthe air being directed bythe' tongues 7 in aninclined, direction ,peSeS'vtlrDghi these perl'ratoa also 'in is illustrative 'of one an inclined direction. tageous in that it serves to blow back the floating lighter materials, 'and separates them from the heavier materials, the said lighter materials report at certain points along the separating table, the reportingpoints varying according to the size and weight of the elements. This 'operation is well described in our patents and it is vnot necessary to be further described here.

Attention is called to the fact that preferably the tongues of ythe upper baille plate 6, located under the separating table 2, extend at an inclination which is opposed to the direction of the thrust of the machine. It will be understood from our patents that said table will decline towardsthe feed end so that the lighter particles which are floated in the separation flow by gravity since they are not yso much affected by the thrustl of the table, while the heavier being affected bythe thrust of the table are carried along and report at various points on the edge f of the table. Therefore, the extension of the tongues 7 of the baille 6 in a direction opposed to the thrust of the table is very important in facilitating the clean separation of the lighter particles from the-heavier ones. e

The lower baille plate 6, which islplaced over the air-outlet Vend 4, has its tongues projecting in a direction with the thrust of the machine. lThis is advantageous in eil'ecting a substantially .uniform pressure of air throughout the length of the baille plate 6.

lgV-hile weshow in the drawings only one air-outlet we desire it to be understood' that where the air outlets are increased in number, there is to be a baille plate (3 for each outlet, or a single plate extended so as to cover all of the air outlets, while only a single upper baille plate which co-operates with the deck, is used.

We desire it to be understood that the baille 6 can be placed close to the deck 2,' as

shown in Fig. 7, or removed therefrom as conditions may dictate, `without, varying from our present improvement.

We also desire it to be understood that the form of baille 'plate is useful in connection with a separator deck formed of textile material, since it isthe effective means for regulating the yamount of air that is yfed to various portions of the deck. l 'y For illustration,reference is iliade to our Patent No. 1,315,881, dated Sept.'9th 1919, which showsmeans for4 eiiecting' the thrust of the table, which meansniay be utilized in this application. The said patentV also shows a pluralityof plates forcent-rolling the flow of airthrough the sel'parat deck which -of on'reifortsy to get the properr A air-flow. and. the' proper pressure of the air. The said fpatent all-soshows. onel form of separating. ,table `which iup This is quite advan? I provement i's adapted to be used. This .also shows a. form of a separating deck and an arr-chamber wit-h'means for controllrng the air ,fed to the separating deck.

The present improvement 1s adapted to he used withy all of these said patents and ujrlih our various other patents, and

with lvarious forms oi machines and sepa` relire' decks, when broadly considered.

Therefore, broadly we do not linut our 1nvention to any particular type of dry separating machine. however, lis limited to dry separating machines since it is not adapted for the wet type of machine.4

Having thus described our invention,

' what we claim and desire to'secure by Letters .Patent is- 1. A table for dry separation of elements of a mass, comprising a pei-vious separating deck, an air-pressure supply for floating said mass onthe top of the deck, and a baille plate between the said air-supply Aand the separating deck, then said baffle plate comprising inclined tongues that feed th air upward at an angle to the deck, for the purl,pose described.

2. A dry separating table comprising a pervious separating .deck at its top, an air chamber beneath the said deck, an air-pres-4 sure supply to the said chamber and a baffle plate between the air-supply andthe said deck, the baille plate having its air-passages formed by cutting inclined tongues for the purpose described..

,5%. A dry separating table having an end thrust, a pervious separatingv deck, an air chamber below thefseparating deck, an airinlet to the, said chamber, and abalile plate between the air inlet and the separating deck, thebaille" plate having air-openings and tongues ex'tendingover the jsaid openings atan inclination opposed to the said table thrust, for the purpose described.

4. `A separating .table lcomprising a per; vious separating deck,'an air-chamberunder the said deck, an air-pressure vinlet connectedfwith the air-chamber, a baille plate under the said se aratingdeck having airpassages and inc ined tongues extending over the vair-passages, the `said baille plate being of less area than the separating deck orthe purpose of leaving certain' portions of the deck uninterrupted. v

A separating table compiising a pervious separating deck, an air-chamber below the said deck,r an air-pressure inlet connected with the said chamber, a baille plate having openings with inclinedA ton es spanning `the air-inlet, and a second baille Thel present invention,v

the said second barile plate located between l"the saidrdeck andthe first-mentioned bale plate for the purposedescribed.

' 6. A separating table having an end thrust away from itsfeeding end, a pervious separating deck, ari air-chamber below the said deck, a pressure air-inlet connected with the said chamber, a baille plate'in the air-chamber below the said deck having openings with tongues inclined in a direction opposite the table thrust, and a second baffle plate covering said air-inlet, the second bellle plete lavmg openmgs with tongues melined in e direction corresponding with the said thrust for the purpose described.l l*

7. A separating table comprising a pervious separating'deck, andan air-chamber below thc said deck, an air-pressure inlet' connected with the said deckha bale plate coverin the air-inlet having openings with incline tonguesand a balile plate between Athe ysaid deck and the first-mentioned baffle plate, the latter plate having openings with inclined tongues, the tongues of the second baffle plate extending in` opposite directions whereby the air-pressure is substantially uniform in the said chamber;

'8. A baille plate for separating machines, comprising la plate having a plurality of openings formed therein and a plurality of inclined tongues projecting over the said openings, vthe said tongues bent to various angles for varying the size of the airopen ings.

'9. A separating,macl1ine comprising a table having a .pervious separating deck, an

air-chamber below the said deck, an air-' deck, the ba'flle plate having a plurality of openings formed by a plurality of'inclined tongues, the said tongues arranged in parallel rows across the machine for the purpose described.

10. A separating table, comprising a pervious separating deck, an air-chamber below the said deck, an air pressure supply connectedwith said chamber, a balie plate located between the said supply andthe said deck, the said plate having inclined tongues which are bent to vary the openings formed by them for the purpose of directing an increased' air supply to-certain"parts ot the said deck.

11. A'separating table, compri-sing a perf4 vious separating deck, an air-chamber below the said deck,an air-pressure inlet connected with the said chambeasf Bale plate located between the deck and the said air-pressure L"inlet having inclined tongues, one part of the tongues bein bent for directing an increased `a'ifsupp y to certain parts of the l deck, anda second. baille-plate` located over thesaid air inlet in advance of the first said baffle plate and having inclined tongues for regulating the air-pressure fed to the plate above, for the purpose described.

12. A separating table, comprising a separating deck, an air-chamber below the said deck, an air-pressure inlet connected With the said chamber, a baile plate in the chamber between the deck and the saidair ressure inlet, the said baiiie plate having lnclined tongues, some of which are partly laterally bent more than others, for the purpose of directing different air pressures to different parts of the deck, for the urpose" described.

13. A separating table iiaving a pervious separating deck, an air chamber below the said deck, an air pressure inletv connected with the said chamber, a baie plate in the said chamber between lthe deck and the air pressure inlet, a `second plate located over the air pressure inlet in advance of the firstmentioned baiie plate, the said baffle plates having inclined tongues Which project at opposite angles for the purpose of controlling the pressure of -air fed to the pervious deck.

In testimony whereof We hereunto affix our signatures.

HENRY MOORE SUTTON.

VALTER LIVINGSTON STEELE. EDWIN GOODWIN STEELE. 

